On the eve of Remembrance Day, the son of a Royal Naval Dockyard apprentice is laying the groundwork of a Living Display that will tell the story of the hundreds of Bermudians who benefited from the Dockyard scheme.

Some 50 years after his father, Lloyd Telford Sr. became an apprentice, West End Development Corporation general manager Lloyd Telford Jr. is working with his staff and the surviving apprentices to remind everyone about the history of the Royal Naval Dockyard's Apprenticeship Scheme.

The Apprenticeship Scheme ran for about a century until the Dockyard closed in 1951. The trades the apprentices learned included electrical fitter, engine fitter, shipwright ? considered the top three trades ? ship-fitter, joiner, carpenter, pattern maker, blacksmith, coppersmith, plumber and painter.

Not only did the scheme help the Royal Navy to staff the Dockyard with trained civilians, but it provided Bermuda with many of its skilled tradesmen ? and business and community leaders.

Mr. Telford said:"The living apprentices can provide us with this living link between the scheme itself, their way of life, and the idiosyncrasies of living and working at the Royal Naval Dockyard."

Earlier this year, Mr. Telford went to Portsmouth for the International Festival of the Sea, and the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

"While there, I gained a clearer appreciation of the Apprenticeship Scheme, which was based at the Royal Naval Dockyard there and participation was global," he said.

"Ideally it meant that we could possibly focus on the relationships that could be forged here and to ultimately establish a living display of the Apprenticeship Scheme at the Royal Naval Dockyard.

"We are thinking of possibly twinning with another port out of the UK, for the mutual benefit of each port."

In order to bring the Living Display of the Royal Naval Dockyard Apprenticeship Scheme come to fruition, Wedco set up meetings with the surviving apprentices.

"We are now meeting about every two to three weeks forging the path to eventually have a living display," he said.

"The next meeting is on November 15, at noon, at Wedco. We are looking forward to having all of the apprentices that have not come forward to contact us so that we can start ensuring that we have an excellent record of who is still with us.

"And at some point the initiative will start to see more information from families of apprentices and businesses/corporations who benefited by their work.

"One of the goals is to establish a global brand of the Royal Naval Dockyards throughout the world, which would provide a new stimuli to both the visitor industry and also a link to our maritime past, heritage and culture."

He added:"What we are doing is making sure that the authenticity of the living display is respectful of the gentlemen that we have in our midst today."

The survivors are keen to share their personal histories, and he said, 'therein lies a serious challenge'.

"In fact, in order to provide the framework one has to be pretty focused, because they want to tell their stories and their stories are probably the most exciting part about it."

"But the bottom line is that there are some serious details that need to be established that the display can be built around. There is a lot of research being done in the UK on our behalf, actually securing artefacts and inventory from the Royal Navy or others, and we would in turn be able to replicate or show what the various things would have looked like on a proper scale."

Along with that Mr. Telford is also hoping to acquire the Royal Naval Dockyard study guides.

"It was tremendous work in terms of the way in which they were taught," he said.

"We want to secure the actual curriculum that the Royal Navy put throughout its Dockyard. I think that what it will establish is that it was clearly degree level work that they were being taught. Some of them still have their actual books and tests."

As the son of a former apprentice, the Scheme is very close to his heart.

"He would have been part of the group that finished their apprenticeship in Portsmouth," he said. "So, there is a certain bond between myself and the apprentices. In fact when I met some of the people in the UK they were that much more interested because my father was an apprentice.

"He would have been an electrician and his first job was to go and do something on a Royal Naval submarine. Obviously, the stories get really exciting. It is a serious link for all of Bermuda in understanding their history and moving forward.

"You had and have both blacks and white participating in a little framework together, notwithstanding that there was an issue. But I think the idea is that you had serious training and benefits."

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